AIA launches ALARM Appreciation Award to recognise local authority contributions

The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) has presented its first ALARM Appreciation Award, recognising an outstanding contribution to the success of its Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey, to Donna Kelly, Service Manager at London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF).

The inaugural award was announced during the AIA’s recent Sharing Best Practice webinar, attended by 250 highway engineers from 144 local authorities, alongside industry representatives.

This year’s ALARM survey, which was produced in the AIA’s 25th anniversary year, had its highest ever response rate, with submissions received from almost 80% of local authorities.

“We are indebted to the local authorities that contribute to ALARM’s success by providing data and participating in focus groups – allowing us to develop a robust and influential report,” said David Giles, Chair of the AIA.

“Thanks in no small part to Donna’s support, we’ve seen response rates across London Boroughs increase significantly over recent years, to reach an all-time high of 78% this year.”

In her role as previous Chair of LoHEG – the London Highways Engineers Group – Donna was a strong advocate of ALARM, encouraging involvement by other Boroughs and enabling the AIA to publish more robust London-only findings.

“It’s been a bit of a labour of love, but I’m so thrilled we’ve been able to get the numbers up over the years,” said Donna.

“The LBHF Cabinet Members love quoting the ALARM survey, so it’s important to be a part of that.

“As with all surveys, if you’re part of the conversation, then you can use the data to try and persuade the powers that be to give us a bit more funding, which I’m sure everyone could do with a bit more of!”

The ALARM survey is carried out annually by the AIA and gives detailed insight into the funding and conditions of the local road network in England (including London) and Wales, based on information provided by those responsible for its maintenance. The resulting report is used by local authorities for benchmarking and by stakeholders across the sector as a tool to track long-term trends.